Dr Suzanne Hoverman

Human Geographer

Dr. Suzanne Hoverman is a Human Geographer with specialisation in public participation in natural resource and environmental management in both developed and developing countries. She is currently a research fellow with the University of Queensland where she has lectured in Environment and Community. Her current research in the identification, assessment and modelling of risks to catchment water management systems in island states targets the collaborative management of the Kongulai Catchment Solomon Islands and the Sarakata Catchment in Vanuatu for the Australian Water Research Facility, an AusAID sponsored research program.

Dr Hoverman specialises in integration across knowledge systems of government, community and science; governance systems for natural resource management; and monitoring and evaluation of natural resource management and governance. Her evaluation research experience is quite broad and includes:

review of the system of Ministerial Advisory Arrangements providing policy advice from key stakeholders and the public to the Queensland Minister for Natural Resources and Mines;

analysis of institutional needs including structure, requisite skills and operating procedures for an Environmental and Social Impact Mitigation Unit within the Ethiopian Electricity Provision Corp. to support rapid expansion of urban and rural electrification and accompanying appropriate governance structures to facilitate cross-departmental communication and planning;

analysis of success factors for successful science integration in decision making as part of the Tropical Savanna Cooperative Research Centre’s three-year longitudinal evaluation study of regional natural resource management planning arrangements; and

training in the development of a Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Improvement (MERI) framework for Southern Gulf Catchments;

She has refined and applied Program Logic; theory of change and development hypotheses; Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Improvement (MERI) and Most Significant Change approaches to the creation and implementation of monitoring and evaluation systems. She is also experienced as a facilitator and in the course design and delivery of adult training and education and has delivered training workshops and presentations on monitoring, evaluation and reporting responsibilities of regional NRM bodies, Regional (Agency) Coordination Groups (RCGs), and others, including statewide workshops for regional NRM body M&E officers.